You've seen the little red-and-yellow and blue-and-yellow seals on cheese, ham and olive oil. They look official — and they are. But most shoppers can't tell you the difference between a PDO and a PGI, and food marketers are very happy to keep it that way. Here is what each label legally guarantees, where the loopholes are, and how to use them to buy genuinely European food.
Walking through a European supermarket can feel like navigating a sea of acronyms. From the colourful Nutri-Score logo on a cereal box to the prestigious red and yellow DOP seal on a block of cheese, these labels are designed to inform us. But what do they really mean? At EU Product Score, we believe that understanding these labels is the first step toward making smarter, more conscious purchasing decisions.
This guide will demystify the most common food labels you'll encounter, explaining how they work, what they guarantee, and how they relate to our own European Score.